This plot between the absorbance (y-axis) and concentration of a solution illustrates the X-Lambert law. X, named August Beer, whose last name is also a popular beverage. Students often use it as a humorous measure of absorbance.
Q: Radiation exposure is usually measured in sieverts, but scientists sometimes explain tiny doses in a lighter way, comparing them to everyday food. This amusing unit reflects the dose you get from eating something rich in potassium, especially a common yellow fruit. What is the unit called?
A: Banana-equivalent dose
Q: Nuclear chain reactions occur at astonishingly fast speeds, far quicker than ordinary time units can meaningfully describe. To capture this, physicists borrowed a phrase from a rural saying about the quick flick of an animal’s tail. What short-lived unit of time is this?
A: Shake
Q: Astronomers often deal with numbers so enormous that they can feel almost unimaginable. One whimsical way to express this is a unit named for a well-known science communicator famous for his phrase “billions and billions” when describing the cosmos. What is this measure?
A: Sagan
Q: Scientists and engineers occasionally entertain themselves by describing speed in deliberately absurd ways. One such unit combines a traditional length in farming with a two-week period, yielding a very slow measurement, around 0.17 mm/s, that works mostly as an in-joke. What is this velocity unit?
A: Furlong per fortnight
Q: Statisticians and doctors sometimes measure the risk of death from daily activities using a peculiar unit. It quantifies the chance of dying as one in a million, making it useful for comparing dangers like driving, skydiving or smoking. What is this unit?
A: Micromort
Published – August 22, 2025 05:44 pm IST
